Welding Tips and Tricks

I have a chop saw from Taiwan that the local hardware sold me. It doesn't cut plumb. The guy who sold it said it cuts much better than the other brands. He was right... it cuts fast. I went to a big box store and bought a Dewalt that cuts correctly even though it is slower than the first machine. You can see in the picture that the blade is not square with the base. I am thinking that I can remove the pivot shaft and grind the bottom of the hole through the base on the right side and put some weld at the top of the hole and make the blade square. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Hey mate,

The pics didnt work.

Thats an abrasive saw right?

If, i have a cheap one as well, and have a similar problem. The word im hearing is to not push to hard on the down force, and hopefully wont flex the disc too much. Also, remember, cheap saws have cheap discs, so maybe try upgrading to a better quality wheel.

Taking it easy will cause less deflection and blades will last longer. I've seen folks put shims in to square it all up. Best to figure out what the blade is square to and work from there.

Those things never seem to cut dead square - even if they look square - guess it's the disc flex thing - I think it's worth trying to straighten that one up - if anything it wants to be slightly off the other way as the flex always steers them the way that's already out - some of the cheaper ones the bases flex quite a bit - is it possible the base is deformed & could be " encouraged " around the mounting bracket to achieve an upright cut ?

Well, I decided to go for it. I dismantled the chop saw and using a rotary grinder in my hand drill I ground out the bottom of the hole in the frame that the shaft goes through. Then I put a weld bead at the top of the hole. I ground that down until the shaft would fit through. I re-assembled and checked. Still a little off so I did it again. After 3 rounds, it looks good. I guess the design people didn't talk. The threaded portions of the shaft were off center so that you could rotate to line everything up but the entire shaft went through larger holes in the frame so the offset did nothing. I guess if there were smaller holes that the threaded part would fit through, it would have worked. Well now I have it square so at least I have a fighting chance of getting a square cut. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts.

I know that this is late, but might be interesting for fine tuning... you might want to look at that bolt and double nut on the left side of the motor mount, if it is like my miter saw, that is a tilt adjustment bolt.

Bill